Nobleton Community Church

Scroll down past Sermon for more info

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date March 16, 2025
TEXT: I Peter 1:1-13-2:3
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

A LIFE OF REVERANCE, LOVE AND GROWTH

We are told in verse 17 to: “Live our lives as strangers here in fear. A fugitive is one who is running from home. A vagabond is one who has no home. A stranger is one away from home. A pilgrim is on his way home. The picture is of a person living in a “foreign land,” alongside people who are not like him. Here it refers to children of God living far from their heavenly home, in foreign territory, on a planet that has Satan as reigning monarch, the people of which are his subjects. We sing the hymn: “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through, my treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue. They’re all expecting me, on that great peaceful shore, and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”—-The problem is; too many Christians feel very much at home in this world, and they don’t have a clear cut testimony that they will have eternal life in heaven with the Lord someday. The Christian should always live in consciousness of the fact that he or she is being watched by the unsaved. Our responsibility is to: Bear a clear testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior, by the way we live and what we say.

Peter says, we are to do this in “fear,” that is, with REVERENT RESPECT which is spoken of in opposition to high-minded men—“be not high-minded” (that is, proud), but fear the Lord.” This means that because we respect Him, we don’t just say or do anything we want in his presence, (which is all the time.) It is being careful because we might fall, it is a constant apprehension of the deceitfulness of the heart, and of the power of inward corruption. It is the caution which shrinks from whatever would offend and dishonor God and this Savior. The British commentator William Barclay says, “The life of reverence is the attitude of mind of the man who is always aware that he is in the presence of God.” Hebrews 12:28 says, “since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship or serve God acceptably with reverence and awe.: The combination stresses the greatness of God and the lowly place his people should take in relation to him. We are to have this reverent fear (in view of the fact or) since we call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially. Outward appearance, wealth, culture, social position, family background, education, beauty, intellect, all things that more or less sway the opinions of people, do not count with God when it comes to judging a person. “Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart” we read in I Sam. 16:7. (When God was instructing Samuel to anoint David as King. ) Even though at times these words are comforting it also should create in us respect for God to realize he is critical, and he is fair, but we can’t fool him. No pretense is possible before God. His impartiality is an honest appraisal of things, and in this verse, it means to put to the test in order to approve the good one finds in the person. God expects to find the life of good works produced by the Holy Spirit, depending on the degree we are subjected to His control. There was a man blinded in World War II. He married his nurse. At a party years later he overheard someone remark. “It’s a good thing he’s blind, because he would have never married her since she is so homely looking.” The man replied, “I’m glad I’m blind if seeing would have kept me from seeing the inner beauty and nobility of character in my wife.” This is how God sees us. Not what is obvious to people, but remember God looks on the heart.

THEN THIS LIFE IS ALSO A LIFE OF LOVE AND GROWTH.

The Christian way of life must reflect God’s love in us, it is added to the command to be holy and to obey and have reverence for God. This means that we receive his LOVE, and that love is shown to others.

The Christian life is lived out of knowledge of the redemption that Christ has accomplished. What do Christians know? Peter reminds us that the cost of redemption by the blood of Christ, and the value of redemption is by the righteousness of Christ himself. This word redeem goes back to the institution of slavery in ancient Rome. Any first century church would have three kinds of members; slaves, freemen, and freed men, People became slaves in various ways. Through war, bankruptcy, or sale of themselves to pay debts. Sometimes the sale was by parents, or by birth.

Slaves normally could look forward to freedom after a certain period of service and often after the payment of a price. Money to buy his freedom could be earned by the stave I his spare time or by doing more than his owner required. Often the price could be paid by someone else. By the payment of a price, a person could be set free from the bondage of servitude. A freed man or woman was a person who formerly had been a slave, but was now redeemed. The redemption of Christians is from the “empty” lifestyle of their ancestors (who lived in sin and was part of a pagan lifestyle.) The New Testament stresses this emptiness rather than being saved from the misunderstandings of Judaism. Paul addresses what the pagans were like, when he wrote in Romans 1:21; “For although they knew God from creation, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Then in Eph. 4:17; “You must no longer live as the Gentiles (Pagans) do, in the futility (or uselessness) of their thinking.”

Verse 19 of I Peter 1, stresses the value of the purchase price (without blemish) perfect. This was the sacrificial Lamb of God. Not just a “plan B,” since the children of God were disobedient and didn’t follow him, not even since Adam sinned, God didn’t say, “uh oh—–I have to figure out a way to get my creation back. No– verse 20 says before creation, Christ was chosen, but then was revealed in these last times. It was for our sake, so that we can believe (and have faith) in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

We see the reason for this life of LOVE; it is that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth; by obeying the gospel. In Acts 15:9 we read; “he made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.” But Paul tells us in Romans 10:16 that not all the Israelites accepted the good news. Then in II Thess. 1:8; “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

The Good News carries with it a command to repent and believe. Being purified from sin enables Christians to show genuine family love for God’s children.

Verse 22 “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brother—-love one another deeply from the heart.” THERE IS THE COMMAND TO LOVE.

The recipients of this letter had purified their souls with the result that they came to love their Christian brethren with a sincere love—not a fake love, that wasn’t sincere. The word used here is the same one from which we get our word “hypocrite,” with the letter (a) prefixed, which makes it mean NOT A HYPOCRITE. This word hypocrite was used of an actor on the stage who played the part of another. Literally it means “to judge under” used of someone giving off his judgment from behind a screen or mask. Some of these to whom Peter was writing had put a mask of insincere love over their facial expressions, when associating with other people in the church.

Does this sound familiar? We wouldn’t do that, would we?

Charles Spurgen was emphasizing to his class one time the importance of making the facial expressions harmonize with what the preacher was preaching. “When you speak of heaven he said, “let your face light up, let it be radiant with a heavenly glow, and let your eyes shine with reflected glory. But when you speak of hell–well, then your ordinary face will do” Some of us never get beyond our ordinary faces. Others pretend!

You may recall the story from the Depression, when this fellow couldn’t find a job, but one day he saw a notice posted from a Zoo, that their gorilla had died, and they need someone to put on a costume and impersonate a gorilla. When he tried to act like a gorilla and swing on a bar, after eating a banana, he flew into the next cage. He yelled “help help, get me out of here” Then the lion said; “Shut up buddy—or we’ll both get fired. Now that’s pretending. —it is actually hypocrisy—There were two conditions in the early church which were responsible for the hypocrisy of pretending to be someone you are not. Some Christians were tempted to go back to their old associates, preferring their company to that of their Christian brethren. This is mentioned in chapter 4, verse 3; “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.” That’s quite a list! Peter suggests that they had plenty of time before salvation, to run around with sin in the world. Those Christians who went back to their former worldly associates and preferred their company to that of believers, would naturally assume an attitude of love towards them.

Then there was the other condition in which different grades of society were represented in the early church, slaves, freemen, rich and poor, educated and illiterate. The privileged were slow to take the underprivileged to themselves in a Christian brotherly way. This is hinted at in chapter 2 verse 1 in the words; “hypocrisy” and “slander” of every kind.”—which means simply the act of putting a person down by what you say about them. Watch out for that. We are all guilty of this at some time or another. Just because we aren’t sued for what we say, doesn’t mean that we aren’t slandering people.

The particular Greek word Philo for love, used here means “a love called out of one’s heart by the pleasure one takes in the person loved.” That is, what you can get out of the relationship! That’s what a lot of marriages have been or are like, as well as relationships among others.. That isn’t a Biblical love. It is a love of “liking” maybe. One likes another person because that person is like him or her in the sense that that person reflects our own personality, the same characteristics, and the same likes and dislikes that we have. It is an affection or fondness, a purely human attachment for another, and perfectly legitimate. For the believer, this should be changed, however, we know we are supposed to love other believers, but we find it difficult to even tolerate them, let alone love them, or like them in this sense.

I believe we can identify with that. Sometimes we do not really sincerely love one another. Or we may tolerate one another, but not love one another, and sometimes we are totally intolerant of one another. Let’s not just pretend to love each other.

The context for any attachment we have for a fellow believer, is concerned with one’s attitude toward one’s fellow Christian as contrasted to one’s former worldly associates. This attitude should be changed at the time of salvation (Paul says in II Cor. 5:17—we are new creations in Christ—the old has gone, the new has come. The necessity for this change comes because of the change in a person’s character from a sinner separated from God to a child of God. The saying goes, “birds of a feather, flock together”—the species has an attachment for itself, based upon similarity of character. So an affection or fondness for another based upon the likeness of that other to one’s self is in the mind of Peter here.

The thing that caused some of these Christians to resort to their former worldly associates was failure to obey the Word of God. Consequently their heart-life became sinful. Therefore, they preferred their former sinful companions to their fellow Christians. But when they started to obey the Word again, their souls were purified, and they came to have that fondness and affection for their Christian brethren which is the normal condition among saints who are living lives of obedience to God’s Word, and allowing the Holy Spirit to control their lives instead of their fleshly desires.

The love which they showed toward other believers came from the heart. Then again, obedience to the Word, would cause the upper classes of society to have a fondness and affection for the lower classes, —Christianity levels off all classes.

God gives the exhortation; “LOVE ONE ANOTHER DEEPLY FROM THE HEART.” What kind of love is this? It is another Greek word that you have heard before; Agape—This word speaks of a love which in its classical usage refers to a love called out of one’s heart by the preciousness of the person loved. In the New Testament it is used in certain contexts like John 3:16 where the idea of self-sacrifice for the benefit of the person loved is added to its classical meaning. Here it is God’s love for us. We are told to love other Christians because people are precious to God, and we are to love them with a love that is willing to sacrifice one’s own interests for the benefit of the brother or sister in Christ. That’s why Paul exhorts us to consider others better than ourselves, and not to think “more highly of ourselves than we should.” It is a love that treats others kindly, and doesn’t keep a record of wrongs. (I Cor. 13:5) It is a love that so causes one to rejoice in the welfare of another that there is no room for envy or jealousy in the heart. This kind of love is only produced when one is subjected to the control of the Holy Spirit. The Christian who manifests the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Gal. 5:22, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Paul goes on to say after this list; “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit, let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Are you growing in the Lord? If not it is no wonder that we don’t understand HOLINESS AND OBEDIENCE. It is no wonder that we are not REVERENT TOWARDS GOD. No wonder we don’t

LOVE OTHER BELIEVERS LIKE WE SHOULD.

If we don’t desire to know the Bible, it is no wonder that we aren’t growing like we should. But when we want to know God’s word and read it and ask him to help us understand what he wants to say to us through it, then we may GROW UP IN OUR SALVATION, but the beginning is when we finally recognize that we are sinners, and need a savior, when we realize that the only way we can be saved is by the finished work of Jesus on the cross. The only way to be wholly sanctified is to surrender our lives completely to Jesus Christ and the indwelling power and control of the Holy Spirit.

Scroll down past Sermon for more info

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date March 9, 2025
Text: I Thessalonians 5:23-24; Galatians 5:19-24
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

In Galatians 5:22-23, we see the fruit of the Spirit…love, joy, peace, forbearance (or patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Some of these obviously overlap in how they play out in our lives. They are all things that should be seen in a Christian’s life, as opposed to the characteristics mentioned for those outside of Christ. They should be evident in a person who is walking in the Spirit. Does this mean that if we don’t always see these things, that a person isn’t saved? No, not at all. Does it mean that they aren’t walking in the Spirit? Well at the time that we don’t see the manifestation of this fruit, we can say that we are not walking in the Spirit if we manifest the works of the flesh mentioned in verses 19-20 of Gal. 5. “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery: idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” Then Paul says something very harsh: “ I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” You don’t have to act on every one of these to not be a part of the Kingdom of God. What he is saying is; that if your lifestyle, is to walk in the flesh, and not in the Spirit, —– basically your lifestyle is one of living in sin

What we want to talk about this morning is this idea of:

:Being sanctified through and through or wholly, or entirely as some translations have it.

So what is sanctification?

The generic meaning of sanctification is “the state of proper functioning.” To sanctify someone or something is to set that person or thing apart for the use intended by its designer. A pen is “sanctified” when used to write. Eyeglasses are “sanctified” when used to improve sight. In the theological sense, things are sanctified when they are used for the purpose God intends. A human being is sanctified, therefore, when he or she lives according to God’s design and purpose.

The Greek word translated “sanctification” (hagiasmos [aJgiasmov”]) means “holiness.” To sanctify, therefore, means “to make holy.” In one sense only God is holy ( Isa. 6:3 ). God is separate, distinct, wholly other. No human being or thing shares the holiness of God’s essential nature. There is one God. Yet Scripture speaks about holy things. Moreover, God calls human beings to be holy as holy as he is holy ( Lev. 11:44 ; Matt. 5:48 ; 1 Peter 1:15-16 ). Another word for a holy person is “saint” (hagios [agio”]), meaning a sanctified one. The opposite of sanctified is “profane” ( Lev. 10:10

Basically, sanctification t is how God makes us holy. Paul didn’t leave his readers without a solution to the problem of what seems to be impossibly high standards. After describing what the holy life looks like. Paul told us how ordinary Christians like us can live in the kind of holiness described in the verses that we read. Sanctification means “set apart” and “made holy.” In sanctification, ordinary things became hallowed. In the Old Testament, the temple and altar, timbers and stones, places and days, the priests became holy. But in the New Testament, the apostles, the Word of God, and us become holy. We become holy because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, when He comes to dwell within us. God’s sanctification changes things. Ordinary items were changed so that they became something new—the ordinary becomes sacred and holy. (II Cor. 5:17)

Look at our text: (v. 23-24) “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless…The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”

In this passage, Paul is calling for the sanctification of people. Transformation of ordinary Christians into a holy people, so they can live like he just described. He was not talking to unbelievers, but Christians in Thessalonica. This actually gives us a good understanding that when we receive Christ into our lives, and he becomes our Savior, that we can’t just live anyway we want to and still expect to be included in the Kingdom of God and receive Eternal Life. If you want to say the person who lives like that was never saved in the first place, okay. But only God knows if that is true. Because we can’t just make these kinds of statements, just to fit our theology.

The important thing is that as professing Christians we become completely set apart for God and live by the Spirit and not according to our fleshly desires.

When we experience the invisible work of God transforming ordinary people into the sort of persons who live extraordinary lives by God’s power, we can also live, abstaining from every form of evil.

Does that mean that once we are sanctified, that we will never sin? No, a thousand times no.

James says, that “if we say we have no sin, the truth is not in us, and we are liars.“ What it does mean is, we are more apt to pursue righteousness and what the Lord wants us to do, rather than be drawn towards wanting to sin. Is it still possible to yield to temptation? Absolutely, but the Holy Spirit will convict the saved person, and also the sanctified person, as to the sin in his or her life that must be confessed (I John 1:9).

When we yield our will completely over to the control of the Holy Spirit, and don’t do things that are sinful, or put ourselves in a position to sin, or go places where sin abounds, then the Holy Spirit will give us victory.

In order to maintain spiritual health, we must remember where our spiritual strength lies. You cannot do this on your own. You cannot make yourself holy by your own strength. The only way to develop and maintain spiritual strength is to depend entirely on the power of God’s spirit at work in your life.

Paul says the work of sanctification is God’s responsibility. He emphasizes in verse 24…(v. 24) The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

Exercising discipline, though, is our job; we must make the effort to give up sin. Practicing discernment is our job; we must make the effort to do it. However, making us holy is God’s job, and he will do it. We will fail from time to time in exercising discipline or practicing discernment, but the good news is that God will not fail in his commitment to make us holy, if we ask Him to do it. But It is crucial for us to remember that we do not depend on ourselves, but on God, for our goodness.

What does it mean to depend on God? Well, this can be seen in your attitude towards sin. The fact is, we all miss the mark; we all fail. When it happens, what is your response? Is it, “Oh no, God could never love me now. I’m not perfect.”? If that is your response, you are depending on your own goodness, not on God.

When you sin, your attitude should be, “Lord, I have broken your law. It is wrong. By your mercy, through the blood of Christ, please forgive me. And by your strength, help me not to do it again.” Once again as I mentioned, John says in :1 John 1:9;..” If we confess our sins, he is faithful and will forgive us our sins and purify (or cleanse) us from all unrighteousness”.

It is up to us to confess; –he forgives,– he cleanses and he purifies.

Paul had big expectations of God’s sanctifying work. When God sanctifies a person “through and through,” he sanctifies that person completely, wholly, entirely. But that does not mean they have no room for growth.

Just in case we missed how complete this sanctification can be, Paul explained the outcomes;

Then our spirit, soul, and body will be preserved blameless. There isn’t much left if your entire spirit, soul, and body have been sanctified.

In our society today, we are a ‘do it” people, especially in North America. We are a practical people who tend to take every instruction for holy living as something we can do by trying harder or doing better and better until some day we finally reach our goal. But that is not what this verse says. It does not say. “Try harder to live this way until you finally achieve your goal.” Instead Paul simply said, “May the God of peace sanctify you.”

It is true that some people seem to be able to help themselves a bit, and some even a lot, but nobody on earth can sanctify themselves through and through. Only God can do this.

This whole sermon series is about TRUSTING.

Today’s scripture calls us to trust God to sanctify us through and through—completely, wholly, entirely. God might sanctify you slowly and gradually over many years, or do it in spurts with interspersed rest stops. He might do it instantly, or in a few weeks, and you will be a completely different kind of Christian in only a short time. However God does it, he will do it. God is in the business of transforming ordinary Christians into extraordinary saints. He might do it slowly, or He might do it quickly, but be encouraged!

You are going to be a holy person! If you want to be. If you are willing to be.

What about you?

Have you seen God at work already in your life? Is He already changing and sanctifying you since you were saved? Have these changes God’s already made been good for you? Don’t you think God wants to release even more power in your life?

God is going to sanctify you fully!

Our role is to wait, hunger, thirst for righteousness, ask in prayer, and knock until God does his work of sanctifying us through and through. But I must warn you, when you yield everything to Him, and allow Him to do anything He wants with your life, He may ask you to do some things that shock you. Things that you may think you can’t possibly do.

The biggest thing holding back God’s sanctifying work is us. Our unwillingness to yield to Him control of our lives.

God seldom sanctifies what has not been surrendered. Is there anything you have that you have not surrendered to Christ? Anything you are holding back? Some secret sin you feel guilty about, but still delight in it? God will sanctify whatever we fully surrender to him. Is there something you have not fully surrendered to Christ?

What we yield to God, he will cleanse, empower, and sanctify. If we yield things to him one by one, he will sanctify them one by one. What is it you need to yield to Jesus today? Are you ready to yield everything? Are you ready to say, “I surrender all” to Jesus?

We can’t become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ by “trying harder.” We should instead rely on the One who can actually make us holy—the Spirit of God Himself.

Scroll down to bottom find more info

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date March 2, 2025
Text: Matthew 24:1-14 Revelation2:3-6
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Valentine’s Day was this past month. Hopefully this is not the only time of the year that we tell our loved ones that we love them. We mustn’t be like the man who was criticized by his wife. She said to him, “you never tell me you love me! He responded. “I told you I loved you when I asked you to marry me. If I change my mind, I’ll let you know!” That doesn’t cut it does It ladies? With our wives, husbands, children, grandchildren and anyone whom we care about, we need to let them know that we love them. When Jeannene and I end a phone conversation with each other we end it with—”I love you.” And it is the same with our children and grandchildren when we talk to them on the phone or say goodbye to them.
I want to ask you a question this morning; “Is your love growing and becoming softer, brighter, more daring, and more visible? Or is it becoming more discriminating, more calculating, less vulnerable, and less available? This is a very important issue, for your Christianity is only as real as your love is. A measurable decrease in the ability to love is evidence that:
A STONGHOLD OF COLD LOVE IS DEVELOPING WITHIN YOU.
In our text from Matthew, we see that Jesus was talking about the end times. He said that “because lawlessness is increased, Most people’s love will grow cold.” Especially in the last few years, with so much lawlessness in so many of our large cities. Crime and Murder rates have increased tremendously since these cities want to defund the police, and many police officers are retiring earlier, and others are just quitting. All of this increase in lawlessness since we have had an open border for the last 4 years. .But then there are cities like Chicago which have experienced lawlessness for years, and more recently Portland Oregon, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City.
Back in the late 60s almost all of you will remember that we saw a lot of lawlessness. College students especially rebelled against the police, and many other joined in against all government authority and University officials. We saw demonstrations of all kinds especially against the war in Viet Nam. However today, it seems that the lawlessness is against individuals. The news is full of people disappearing, or missing, and murders abound, and the recent protests are against the President’s executive orders. But we often see it within households, among relatives too. Law enforcement frequently tells us that most of the disputes they are called to settle, are domestic.
There is certainly a stronghold of “COLD LOVE” that is prevalent, just like Jesus said there would be. A major area of spiritual warfare that has come against the church is in the sphere of church relationships. Satan knows that a church divided against itself cannot stand. We may enjoy temporary blessings and seasonal breakthroughs, but to win a citywide, or in our case maybe a county wide war, Jesus is raising up a united church. An earmark of this corporate, overcoming church will be its commitment to LOVE. Yet, because of the increasing iniquity at the end of this age, true Christian love will be severely assaulted.
There can be no spiritual unity and hence no lasting victory without love. Love is a passion for oneness. Bitterness on the other hand is characterized by a noticeable lack of love! This cold love is a demonic stronghold. In our generation cold love is becoming increasingly more common. It shuts down the power of prayer and disables the flow of healing and outreach. In fact, where there is persistent and hardened unforgiveness in a person or church, (like the account of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23-35) the demonic world has unhindered access.
We see that Jesus is teaching that if we don’t forgive others here on earth, he won’t forgive us either. That’s a pretty hard concept to hear.
Not only does this cold love cause a lack of forgiveness, but the Scriptures warn that even a little root of bitterness in a person’s life can spring up and defile us (Hebrews 12:15 says; “See to it that no one misses the grace of God, and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many”
Bitterness is unfulfilled revenge. Another person’s thoughtlessness, lack of love, or even cruelty may have wounded us deeply. It is inevitable that in a world of increasing harshness and cruelty you will at some time be hurt. But if you retain in your spirit the debt the offender owes you, that often will rob your heart of its capacity to love, imperceptibly, like the “frog in the kettle” you will become a member of the majority of end time Christians whose love is “growing cold”
Bitterness is a classic symptom of the STRONGHOLD OF LOVE.
To deal with this, you must repent of this attitude and forgive the one who hurt you. Now I know you might be thinking. Pastor Paul, you just don’t understand—-you don’t know what I have had to go through in the past. It is too much to ask to forgive someone who was offensive to me, and caused me heartache even today. You’re right, I don’t know what you went through, or are going through now. But I do know that this painful experience was allowed by God to teach you how to love your enemies and to forgive them. Millions of souls are swept off into eternal judgment every day without any hope of escaping from embitterment, but you have been given God’s answer for your pain. God gives you a way out. LOVE and forgiveness, as you forgive those who have sinned against you.
The Scottish preacher Stephan Olford tells of a Baptist preacher, Peter Miller, during the American Revolution. He was from Pennsylvania and was a friend of George Washington. A man named Michael Witman was an evil-minded person who did all he could to oppose and humiliate Pastor Miller. One day Witman was arrested for Treason. Pastor Miller traveled 70 miles to Philadelphia to plead for his life. No Peter, Gen. Washington said. “I cannot give you the life of your friend.” “My friend!” Miller exclaimed, “He is the bitterest enemy I have!” What! You’ve walked 70 miles to save the life of an enemy? That put this matter in a different light. I’ll grant your pardon!” And he did. Peter Miller took Michael Witman back home——no longer an enemy but a friend. That’s THE POWER OF GODLY LOVE AND FORGIVENESS.
Verses 9-12 in our text tells us THE OPPOSITE OF THIS LOVE— that this coldness of love results in persecution and hatred of Jesus Christ. Because of this, many will turn away from the faith and even betray and hate each other. Many false prophets and teachers will deceive many people. There will be an increase of wickedness and THE LOVE OF MOST WILL GROW COLD. Because of all this, we must be on our guard. Jesus is warning us of what will be the signs of the end times. But he tells us “he who stands firm until the end will be saved.
The shocking thing is that we see an increase of all of this in every generation. It does seem that this prophetic teaching fits today’s society very well. May we be determined to keep our “first love,” and not lose it like the church in Ephesus did. We read in Rev. 2:3-4 where Jesus in all of his resurrected and heavenly brilliance is revealing certain things to John on the island of Patmos. He says, “you have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you that you have forsaken your first love.” What’s going on with you anyway? Do you have any idea how far you have fallen? Turn back! Recover your dear early love. No time to waste, for I’m well on my way to removing your light.” But then he says, “you do have this to your credit. You hate the business of the immoral Nicolaitans. I hate it too.” Now the Nicolaitans were so called believers, who compromised their faith in order to enjoy some of the sinful practices in the society of the Ephesians. Their attitude was similar to a lot of Christians today when they want to do something that they know in their heart, God doesn’t approve of. Their attitude is, “It really isn’t so bad, and it won’t affect my faith.”
Another thing we should guard against is being sucked into the thinking of the world. We read in Romans 12:1-2; {Don’t be conformed to this world, or paraphrased; “Don’t let the world push you into its mold.”
As you embrace God’s love and begin to walk in forgiveness, you are actually pulling down the stronghold of bitterness and its manifestation of COLD LOVE in your life. Because of this experience, you will eventually have more love than you ever did. You truly do need to thank God.
I want to make it perfectly clear; there is no such thing as love without commitment. This is true in the marriage relationship or lack of marriage relationship. Just because a couple lives together, doesn’t mean they are committed. A marriage is more than just a piece of paper, which a lot of young people think today. A marriage is a commitment, first to God, and then to each other, declared before a body of witnesses, which should be the Body of Christ—believers in Jesus Christ. People sometimes say, “I loved once but I was hurt.: That seems to be their reason for never committing again.
When it comes to the church, the same reasoning prevails. “I was committed to Christ and serving Him, once, but those in the church used me.” This becomes the reason that some never want to be a part of another church congregation again. People withdraw from being committed, never realizing that their love is growing cold!. It may not seem like they have become cold—because some of these same people, might still go to the church, maybe even read their Bible sometimes, tithe, sing, and look like Christians, but inside they have become distant and aloof from other people. They have withdrawn from the LOVE OF GOD, and are really distant from him and others too.
Jesus said…”It is inevitable that temptations or ‘stumbling blocks’ come.” (Matthew 18:7) In your life there will be times when even good people have bad days. As long as you live on earth, there will never be a time when obstacles will cease to be on your[PL1] path—-in your way. We don’t stumble over boulders, but over stones,—usually little things. To stumble is to stop walking and fall. Have you stumbled over someone’s weakness or sin lately? Did you get back up and continue loving as you did before, or did that fall cause you to withdraw from walking after love? To preserve the quality of love in your heart, you must forgive those who cause you to stumble. Otherwise your heart will harden towards them. We must not form a negative opinion of someone (even though they may deserve it), but when we allow these feelings to crystallize we develop a hateful attitude. When this happens, your heart will “cool” towards God.
Rather than allow that to happen, we have the option of allowing an underground river of love to spring into action. By “love” I mean a compassion that is empowered by faith and prayer to see God’s best come forth in the one I need to love. When I have love, I have predetermined that I am going to stand with him or her, regardless of what they are going through , or what they are doing.
We each need people who are committed to us as individuals—people who know we are not perfect but love us anyway. The manifestation of God’s kingdom will not come without people being committed to each other to reach God’s fullness. We sometimes sing the chorus; “They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love!” That’s the difference we should make in the world, as the Church endeavors to demonstrate THE LOVE OF GOD in us. This “Gospel of the Kingdom” (verse 14) must be preached to all nations, and then, Christ will come back again. When He becomes so “new” in our lives, that we become people who overcome the obstacles of each other’s faults; then we will become what God has called us to be, the living body of Jesus Christ—with warm hearts, —-not cold.

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date February 23, 2022
Texts: 2 Kings 2:1-12; Mark 9:2-9
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Have you ever dreamt about the day you can buzz around in your very own flying machine? Like what George Orwell said we would be doing by the year 1984. Well, we did have individual flying machines at that time. In 1987, before we returned to The Congo, after our furlough year, I was looking into the possibility of purchasing an Ultralite; one or two-seat aircraft, propelled by an engine that wasn’t much bigger than a lawnmower engine. We had just planted 17 churches in the Cataract Mountains in the Lower Congo, and it was very hard to reach the villages. The road was narrow and steep and would get washed out when it rained, and I always hated to drive on that road. A little Ultralite airplane I thought, would be perfect to zip up there with an evangelist or to hold conferences and outreaches. I talked to some of the pilots with Mission Aviation Fellowship about this possibility and they all thought it was too dangerous, so I never did buy one.

Well, nevertheless there has been a continued development of this kind of aircraft. The folks at NASA have built something called “The Highway in the Sky.” It’s a computer system designed to let millions of people fly whenever they please, and take off and land from wherever they please, in their own vehicles. Many of these kinds of vehicles are not open like the kind that I was thinking about. The main one is called the Air Scooter, and self-taught inventor Woody Norris had them for sale in 2013. One of his pilots demonstrated the Air Scooter for a 60-minutes TV show. It can fly for 2 hours at 55 mph, and go up to 10,000 feet above sea level. Just the thing you need when you have a long commute in heavy traffic. With this, you can go –as the crow flies, and do away with all the frustration of rush hour traffic. (Incidentally, I never understood why they call it rush hour—I have never seen much rushing going on. Usually, you are just slowly moving along, or it’s stop and go.) Anyway, you see how nice it would be to fly. Norris said you wouldn’t need a pilot’s license if you fly it under 400 feet in non-restricted air space. The downside is; it is going to sell for $50,000. The one I was thinking about 25 years ago was about $2000-3000 for a one-seater, and no more than $8000-10000 for two seats.

Up until now, it was always considered too dangerous to have a lot of individual small aircraft flying around at low altitudes, but now all the potential air traffic can be managed because NASA has come up with a plan to make personal flying machines a reality. Each “plane” will have a computer system that will manage all the new traffic up there. You, the pilot only need to focus on one computer screen with a box on it. Keep the Air Scooter’s nose centered in the box, away from other personal flying machines, and the computer will guide you to your destination.

It’s an interesting concept, thinking that you could start every day by getting a literal bird’s eye view of things.

You may not have ever thought about who was the first human to take flight. ELIJAH WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO TAKE FLIGHT

The idea of futuristic flying cars was certainly way out of the realm of imagination in Elijah’s day, and yet our text this morning reveals that he was really the first human to take flight. It was in a chariot of fire. You have to wonder about that moment of takeoff when Elijah got scooped up and was shuttled to a heavenly destination in his own personal divine flying machine. He didn’t have to look at any computer screen, because God made sure he got to his heavenly destination without a mishap.

This event is a suitable bridge between the careers of these two prophets, Elijah and Elisha struggling to preserve their understanding of who God is –(and was)–in the northern kingdom of Israel in the middle of the ninth century B.C. The prophet Elijah ministered during the reigns of Omri, Ahab, and Ahaziah (876-849 BC). These were three of the northern kings condemned in I and II Kings for their apostasy. Most of Elijah’s time was during the reign of King Ahab. The “transition event” of being taken by God, comes at the end of his tumultuous confrontations with Israel’s rulers. It was fitting that God would do this. Elijah had had some other encounters with God, that involved some unusual atmospheric conditions.

You remember back in I Kings 18 where he had a “contest” on Mt. Carmel with the prophets of Bael. There were 450 prophets of Bael and 400 prophets of Asherah who were supported by the wicked queen Jezebel. There was a drought with no rain for the last three years. This of course resulted in a famine. They told Elijah to go to King Ahab and tell him that I would soon send rain! Jezebel had tried to kill all of God’s prophets, but a man named Obadiah, who was a devoted follower of the Lord, hid 100 prophets in two caves and supplied them with food and water. Elijah was not alone in his confrontation with Ahab, but he felt alone. But there were others who believed in God. Elijah had enough faith and confidence in God, to confront Ahab, his wicked wife Jezebel, and all the false prophets of two heathen gods, and believed that God would send rain. Which He did, in a miraculous encounter. If you haven’t ever read this, –you can read it in I Kings 18. But after that, he slaughtered the prophets of Baal. So Jezebel was determined to take revenge and kill him. Now all of a sudden, Elijah is afraid of her—what happened to his tremendous faith that he had just demonstrated?

Do we ever see God do something special, or even miraculous for us, and then after a while, we sort of forget how gracious, and powerful He is, and we gradually drift away from him? Maybe we aren’t afraid that someone will kill us, but we no longer act like we have the faith we once had. Don’t let that happen! In chapter 19 of I Kings, God sends an angel to comfort Elijah and encourage him. He actually sends ravens to feed him as he is in hiding from Jezabel. Then God says to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Now listen to Elijah’s whining response to God: “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I alone am left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” Then God told him; “Go out and stand before me on the mountain.” And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle whisper.

Sometimes I think we miss God speaking to us because we want it to be loud and clear. But often it is a quiet whisper, by the Holy Spirit. Elijah heard it, wrapped his face in his cloak, and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. God then told him to go back the way he came and travel through the wilderness of Damascus and he told him who to anoint. This cloak of Elijah was important. It was not only an important article of clothing for those of this time period, as protection against the weather, but as a place to sit, as bedding, and as luggage. It could be given as a pledge for a debt or torn into pieces to show grief. When Elijah saw Elisha in his field plowing, he put his cloak on Elisha’s shoulders to show that he would become Elijah’s successor. Later when the transfer of authority was complete, Elijah left his cloak for Elisha.

Elijah’s takeoff in a “chariot of fire” pulled by horses of fire, propelled by a whirlwind that carried him to heaven, certainly indicates that he’d lived a unique kind of prophetic life and God chose for him to make that kind of exit from his life and ministry. There were only two other people who were given the opportunity to take off from the earth in an unusual way. In Genesis 5 we read about Enoch, an ancestor of Noah, who lived 365 years and fathered the long-living Methuselah. He “walked with God, and God took him.” That was it. No dying, no burial for him. The curse of death outlined in Genesis 3 didn’t apply to this righteous man, and he was apparently brought directly into the presence of God as a result of his faithfulness. But this is exactly what will happen to us someday when our bodies “die”, and our spirits are taken—we will also be present with the Lord.

Moses was the other person who left this earth in an unusual way, because we read in Deuteronomy 34:5-6 that he died in the land of Moab, and the Lord buried him somewhere in a valley near

Beth-Peor, but no one knows the exact place.

When Elijah approaches the Jordan River, with his eager protégé Elisha following along behind, he rolls up his mantle and strikes the water, parting it so that both prophets could cross on dry ground—a definitive reference to the prophetic power of Moses. When Elijah crosses the river, it’s no coincidence that he has entered into the same region where Deuteronomy tells us that Moses died. There is a hint of the mystery of Moses’ departure in 2 Kings and it sets up the idea that Elijah is in the very same class as Israel’s liberating prophet and that he will have a similarly mysterious departure. However, both prophets were flawed. They were not sinless. Moses lacked confidence in the beginning and balked in fear of the Pharaoh. He sometimes let the anxiety of his people get the best of him. The one time at the rock, kept him from going into the earthly promised land. Elijah demonstrated a similar bent when he ran for his life in the desert after being threatened by Jezebel and hid in a cave until God talked him out of it with a display of divine power.

But fortunately, God does not seek the flawless when looking for those to be in service. Being flawed and having shortcomings and weaknesses does not mean God’s going to pass over and look for someone else to do His work in the world. When, like Moses, we say; “I can’t do this: find someone else,” God says, “I don’t want anyone else. When, like Elijah we run away, God finds us.

Elijah was like so many of us who swing between the poles of victory and defeat or contentment and crisis, on a regular basis.

Sometimes, however, God offers us a bird’s eye view of our lives, allowing us to take it all in and understand that everything we experience, both good and bad, can teach us and provide experiential fuel for the journey we’ve undertaken. Elijah doesn’t engage in a deathbed reflection, but a flight of grand proportions that signifies that God honors those who are faithful in spite of their fears, and those who are willing to rise above adversity instead of grumbling in the traffic of an overly ordinary life.

NASA has created a targeted flying system that enables people who are willing to take the risk of flying to get to their destinations quickly and safely. Stories like those of Elijah remind us that the Scriptures have given us an even more definitive target for the destination of our lives: to be in God’s presence. When we point our lives in God’s direction, like the nose of the AirScooter being pointed towards the box on the screen, we can see things anew and move through life with purpose, simplicity, and excitement, protected by Him.

Indeed, the account of Elijah’s inaugural flight reminds us that if we believe in God’s promises, our lives don’t ultimately end in death, but in the high-flying, above-ground reality of resurrection. Remember, Moses and Elijah both appeared with Jesus above the disciples at the Transfiguration, which signaled to the disciples that death wasn’t the end fact they’d come to believe and preach after Jesus’ own rising from the dead and flight into heaven at the Ascension.

In the meantime, however, we find ourselves like Elisha, and like those first disciples, staring and pointing into the heavens with wonder. Having witnessed the resurrection power of a heavenly flight we, like Elisha, want a double portion of it (2 Kings 2 verse 9). We want the kind of boldness and perseverance that our spiritual ancestors and mentors displayed. We want the kind of entrepreneurial spirit that fuels the vision of inventors and the passion of prophets.

To experience that, however, we have to be willing to build on the efforts of our entrepreneurial ancestors. The flying car has been conceived by inventors for over 50 years, and just now is the technology starting to be perfected. The legacy of Elijah is even longer, and we build on his prophetic work only if we’re willing to pick up the mantle and engage in our own journey. The truth still needs to be spoken to those in power. People are still in need of healing and need to be fed. And, if we’re really being prophetic, we’ll still experience times of fear and want to run and hide.

Through it all, though, God promises us that, in the end, we’re all going to fly toward a new destination called the kingdom of God.

” In the Garden”

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date February 9, 2025
Text Philippians 3: 1-21
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

There are some people that always seem to live in the past, sort of “resting on their laurels” so to speak. The Livingston Inland Mission, which was named after the missionary explorer David Livingston, eventually became the British Missionary Society (which was Baptist). At a church growth conference held in Kinshasa, where all of the Missions came together to present their future plans and goals, the B.M.S. presented the wonderful work that had been done in the past 100 years, and how they had planted mission stations and churches from Kinshasa all along the Congo River right through the heart of the country. But they didn’t mention one thing that they were planning to do for the next 5 years. They were “resting on their laurels” and their past glories, instead of pressing on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s high calling.

Back in October 2010, I was at Nyack College in Nyack, NY at my Alma Mater for Alumni weekend, and to receive an award presented to me as I was inducted into my college’s basketball hall of fame. I was thankful for the 2 ½ years that I played for Nyack, (I transferred and therefore wasn’t eligible to play the first semester) This was an honor that I never thought would happen. Through the years I have never gloried over my past playing days, but now someone else is. Don’t get me wrong, I sometimes think of those days, and the lessons learned. For instance not doing a tomahawk dunk on a breakaway in a close game in the post season tournament. Just to “rub it in” to the opposing team. A simple easy dunk would have sufficed. The dunk hit the back of the rim and bounced off. We lost by one point.

But there are lessons of perseverance, and confidence that we could win against schools that were 6 or 7 times our size. The knowledge that one should always give a 110% and not give up, and just because good things happened one year, that we shouldn’t dwell on those accomplishments, because we should constantly be moving forward.

THE ONLY WAY TO CONTINUE TO ACHIEVE GREAT THINGS IN THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE IS TO LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND US.

We need to understand though what the apostle Paul means when he says to forget the past. Don’t we read in the Old Testament how God wants the Israelites to remember things; like what He does for them. They built memorials and celebrated feast days so they wouldn’t forget. Then Jesus tells us to celebrate the Passover Feast in a new way. The Lord’s table, our Holy Communion, is to remember Him. So what is this about—“forgetting the past?”

What Paul is talking about is the past as it relates to us and our accomplishments. The past as it relates to us and our talents and any good thing that the world might see in us. The past as it relates to our sin, and what we did before we gave our lives to the Lord.

WE ARE TO FORGET OUR PAST GLORIES.

In our Christian lives, we need to leave the past behind us. Perhaps we have gloried in what we have accomplished, or who we are, or where we come from. Paul calls this, “having confidence in the flesh”—in the last part of verse 3.

In verse 4 he says that he has more reason than anyone else to have such confidence. After all he says, “ I was circumcised the eight day (this was a big deal because it indicated that he was born into a Jewish family, not an adult proselyte like some who became Jews later in life, and were considered “lower” than those who were circumcised as infants.) He says, “I was from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. In regard to the law, a Pharisee and as for the law, I was so zealous that I persecuted the church, and was faultless when it came to legalistic righteousness.

Paul is not “blowing his own horn” as we say, in an inappropriate way. Don’t we do the same thing when we send out our resume to get a specific job. We site all of our accomplishments and so forth.

Lists of virtues or vices were common at the time. Praise and blame speeches in narrative form were given, and they characterized biographies. Lists of virtues typically included items such as noble birth or beauty as well as character traits like prudence or steadfastness. Self-commendation was considered appropriate if one were defending oneself or using oneself as a legitimate model for others. By claiming to have greater merit than his opponents even on their own terms, he turns this self-commendation into an occasion to undermine them. Professional speakers and writers often used the standard “rhetorical technique of “comparison” to accomplish this end.

All this sounds a lot like politicians of our day doesn’t it? What Paul is warning us about is to put all of these things that we and others consider good about ourselves and put them behind us. Don’t count on those things. Forget about it! (As they say in Brooklyn)

We of course understand that we need to do this with our sins. We are new creatures in Christ. (II Cor. 5:17—The old has gone the new has come.) Our sins are forgiven, and we are now Children of God. But the problem is what about the things that we have seen in the past where God has blessed us.

PERHAPS WE HAVE GLORIED IN OUR MATERIAL GOODS.

(Verse 7) Of course, we shouldn’t forget about what He has done for us. How He has provided for us. Even abundantly, particularly as I have said before, when we compare what we have, and what many others in the world (and even in this country), do not have.

So material things are a blessing from the Lord. This was true in the Old Testament, and there is no where in scripture that shows that for the Christian this isn’t so, even today. Except what we see in the Gospels, is Jesus addressing wrong attitudes towards our possessions.

He says; “ Don’t lay up for yourselves treasures that rust or can be corrupted or destroyed, but lay up treasures in heaven.” “Don’t think about gaining more and more wealth (building bigger barns to store it in is the parable), –if your heart is in your wealth, He may demand you to sell it all and give it to the poor, and follow Him.

Then also:

Perhaps we have gloried in our own self-righteousness (verse 9)

Paul was the classic example before his conversion. All those things he mentioned in verses 4-6, he says in verse 7 that he considers anything that was once a profit for him, a loss, for the sake of Christ; compared to the greatness of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord.

Can you say that this morning? Do you KNOW Jesus in this way, so that He means more to you than anything you own, anything you are able to do, your earning capacity –now or in the past—your pension etc. –your education or training, or experience in a given field? Do you consider all of that rubbish, so that you may gain more of Christ? These are hard questions that we must ask ourselves.

Or do you subconsciously count on your own goodness, and see no need to be fanatical about Christ. You sometimes wonder about these ridiculous statements that Paul makes like in verse 10—“I want to know Christ and the POWER OF His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in death…” You may be super cautious about going to extremes.

Do you glory in the memory of a good deed you did.

(Matthew 6:3) –Jesus said, “when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

All of these things are the things that we are to put behind us. FORGET PAST GLORIES!

Then we are also to FORGET PAST OFFENCES.

Our hesitation to forgive others even though God has forgiven them, can eat away at us like a cancer.

In the book; “Restoring Your Spiritual Passion, Gordon MacDonald writes: …”on a plane flight which I was headed toward a meeting that would determine a major decision in my ministry, there is a memory that burns deep within. I knew I was in desperate need of a spiritual passion that would provide wisdom and submission to God’s purposes. But the passion was missing because I was steeped in resentment toward a colleague. For days I had tried everything to rid myself of vindictive thoughts toward that person. But, try as I might, I would even wake in the night, thinking of ways to subtly get back at him. I wanted to embarrass him for what he had done, to damage his credibility before his peers. My resentment was beginning to dominate me, and on that plane trip, I came to the realization of how bad things really were…As the plane entered the landing pattern, I found myself crying silently to God for power both to forgive and to experience liberation from my poisoned spirit. Suddenly it was as if an invisible knife cut a hole in my chest, and I literally felt a thick substance oozing from within. Moments later I felt as if I’d been flushed out. I’d lost negative spiritual weight, the kind I needed to lose: I was free. I nearly bounced off that plane and soon entered a meeting that did in fact change the entire direction of my life.

Spiritual passion cannot coexist with resentments. The Scriptures are clear. The unforgiving spirit saps the energy that causes Christian growth and effectiveness.

Bitterness and resentments sometimes causes physical ailments.

When my dad was diagnosed with multiple-mya-loma, he was given only a short time to live. At that time he was holding bitterness in his heart against his adopted sister, who he believed had cheated him out of his inheritance. As he lay in the hospital, he called her in California and asked her to forgive him for the bitter feelings that he had held against her. She wasn’t even aware of this, because my dad never said much. She forgave him, and he got better and was released from the hospital, and he was healed of the cancer, or at least it went into remission for 4 more years. He ultimately died as it came back, but he experienced peace when he forgave and his life was extended.

A Jewish woman from Terre Haute, Indiana was in charge of the Holocaust Museum there. One night it was burned to the ground. (Probably by someone who believed that the Holocaust never happened). When she was asked by a reporter how she felt about this, she replied; “ I forgave the Nazis and I forgive the person who did this.”

Failure to forgive others hinders God’s forgiveness of us. Failure to forgive stifles our witness for Christ.

Failure to forgive causes turmoil in our lives. It causes arguments, and marriage relationships are strained and sometimes destroyed.

One Saturday morning a lady named Jane Schmidt awoke to the delightful smell of waffles and the sound of her two small boys in the kitchen with her husband. Padding down to breakfast, she sat on her husband’s lap and gave him a big hug for his thoughtfulness. Later that day she and her husband were having a heated discussion in their bedroom when their four year old Jacob, stopped them in midsentence. Standing in the doorway, he said, “Mommy, try to remember how you felt when you were on Daddy’s lap.”

We are to: FORGET THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE BEHIND AND PRESS ON TOWARD THE GOAL TO WIN THE PRIZE (VERSE 14)

LET US LIVE UP TO WHAT WE HAVE ALREADY ATTAINED (VERSE 16)

Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ

They need to be broken!

I remember as a boy, I liked to put together model airplane gliders. You know the kind that was made of cheap, balsa wood. The thin, light wood is pre-stamped so that you punch out the airplane and attach the wings to the fuselage. The balsa wood is supposed to break off at the grooves. Sometimes it does not. Occasionally you splinter or break off part of the airplane by accident. When this happens, the planes don’t fly as well as they are designed to. Life is delicate, like the balsa plane. When we break in the right areas we will fly higher and smoother than when we break in the wrong places…When we are broken in the wrong places, we become self-centered. Our broken emotions keep us from loving effectively. We shun future settings where further hurt could take place, like significant relationships, or fellowship in churches, and it keeps us from setting goals. Or we react defensively to the hurt by overachieving and living a life of abandon. When we are broken in the wrong places, we do not see the fruit of the Spirit.

The older we get, the more you see people who have lost the sparkle in their eyes that they once had. They have endured tough circumstances, but not successfully.

How should we be broken in the right way?

Being broken in the heart, in the soul, where God can do something with your will and character, is a matter of converting, sanctifying the actual pain, and making it a part of the healing salve. You cannot do it on your own. God must do it. BUT YOU MUST BE WILLING.

The Lord wants to prepare us for heaven. He will cleanse you, forgive you and fill you with His Holy Spirit, so that you can live as He intended you to live on earth. Our citizen ship is in heaven and we eagerly await the day that we will be totally transformed, but until that day comes, LET US LIVE A LIFE THAT DOESN’T DWELL ON THE PAST, EITHER THE MISTAKES OR THE GOOD THINGS THAT WE HAVE DONE, BUT RATHER REMEMBER WHAT HE HAS DONE IN OUR PAST AND WHAT HE WANTS TO DO IN OUR FUTURE. HE WANTS TO BLESS US IF WE SUBMIT TO HIM.

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date February 2, 2025
Text Micah 6:1-8
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

If you ever pick up a package of software at a big box electronics store, there’s one thing you want to be sure to do —check the system requirements. If you don’t have the right hardware the software won’t work. Do you want Excel? Microsoft Excel that is? If so, your computer will need to meet certain system requirements. I rarely use Excel—but I am told for the latest Excel version you will need a processor that is at least one gigahertz, and for business purposes two is better. With windows 11 and Office 365 it automatically adjusts to your software, but the amount of computer memory might be affected. Anyway, my point is that there are always minimum system requirements. I don’t do system downloads, but if you do, you better consult the requirements.

Of course, if you live in some parts of the country, more rustic parts perhaps, you have to do a translation because geek speak has a different meaning. For example; LOG ON means “Make the wood stove or fireplace hotter. LOG OFF means Don’t add no more wood. MONITOR —“Keep an eye on the wood stove. DOWNLOAD—Get the firewood off the truck. MEGA HERTZ; “ WELL —That’s what happens when you’re not careful as you get the firewood. And finally, LAPTOP is where the cat sleeps.

But getting back to system requirements. Beyond the minimum system requirements are recommended requirements. Recommendation for Excel might include a graphics processor since it helps increase the performance of certain features, such as drawing tables. System requirements and recommended requirements are the language in the world of computers.

It is also the language of; FAITHFUL LIVING.

In this relatively well-known Old Testament text we see that God lets us know in decidedly simple language just what is required to make His HOLINESS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS work. If you want to “excel “ as a Christian you need to know the minimum and recommended requirements.

THE MINIMUM REQUIRMENT IS FAITH

Paul tells us, in his letter to the Galatians, tells us: how a person is made right with God “not by the works (or righteousness) of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:16) This means that we enter into a saving relationship with God Through our willingness to trust Jesus, to rely on him to be our Savior but also our LORD. We are save through faith, and Paul assures us that there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” Roman 8:1

FAITH IS GOD’S MINIMUM REQUIREMENT

But more is recommended for those who want to excel. In the book of Micah, (our text this morning), God says through the prophet: “Listen to what the Lord says; Stand up, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say. Hear, you mountains, the accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a case against his people he is lodging a charge against Israel: (verses 1-2) They are like witnesses in a court room. It is on the mountain tops that the Israelites sacrificed to pagon idol gods even in their celebrations.

In this passage, God has a controversy with the people of Israel, one that will be settled in an unusual kind of courtroom. God will make his charges and the people will answer. Serving as judge and jury will be not a group of people (their peers), but the mountains and the hills.

“My people what have I done to you?” Asks God. “How have I burdened you? (or worried you)? Answer me! I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery, and I sent Moses, to lead you, also Aaron, and Miriam. My people, remember what king Balak of Moab counseled, and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember , Your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving and righteous acts of the Lord.( Micah verses 3-5)

God reminds the people of all the great things that have been done for them. Liberation from Egypt, rescue from slavery and the gift of leadership by Moses, Aaron and Miriam. As if these mighty acts are not enough, God asks them to remember the time that king Balak hired Balaam to speak a curse against Israel, which backfired and tuned into a blessing (Numbers 22-24). God concludes by reminding them of what happened along the journey from Shittim to Gilgal, as the people crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land.

“Isn’t this enough? Asks the Lord, with a note of hurt in his voice. “Aren’t these enough mighty and amazing acts of salvation?

Then the people respond. Feeling convicted of their faithlessness, they say, “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? ” (Micah vss. 6-7).

The people are willing to give anything—absolutely anything—to be restored to a right relationship with God.

Thousands of rams. Ten thousands of rivers of oil. Even their Firstborn children. No price is too high. Like they were used to doing for the pagan gods. But thee are not God’s requirements. Instead, says the prophet Micah, the Lord requires something else. “He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but:

TO ACT JUSTLY, AND TO LOVE MERCY (KINDNESS, AND TO WALK HUMBLY WITH YOUR GOD? (verse 8)

In Isaiah 57:15 We read: “God lives in a high and holy place…to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Jeremiah 22:3 “…Do what is just and right. Rescue from the land of the oppressor, the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherly or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

Isaiah 1:17 “ Learn to do right, seek justice, encourage the oppressed,

defend the case of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

Hosea 6:6 “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice and acknowledgement of God, not burn offerings.

In the New Testament when the Pharisees questioned him for eating with tax collectors and sinners— we read in Matthew 9:3 “It is not the healthy that need a doctor , but the sick. Go and learn what this means “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” And in Matthew 23:23: “You have neglected the more important matter of the heart—justice, mercy and FAITHFULNESS.

And finally in Luke 11:42: ” …you neglect justice and the love of God”

These are God’s recommended system requirements. What was true for the Israelites is true for us. Yes, God’s minimum requirement is FAITH. But the recommended requirements go much farther: justice, kindness and a humble walk with God. Only then will we excel.

Notice that Micah’s answer reveals that God is much more interested in our daily activities that in our religious observances. Burnt offerings, gifts of oil—these are actions tied to spiritual ceremonies. What God requires, however, is a life lived with acts of justice, kindness and humility.

THE FIRST RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENT: Is to do justice (Act justly). Although the passage from Micah asks us to imagine a courtroom, this particular legal requirement does not require attorneys, judges and juries. Instead, the command to do justice applies to every aspect of our life—-It means treating others with fairness, equality and showing concern for people who are weak, powerless and exploited. This means living in a righteous way within society. Biblically speaking: a righteous person as a New Testament Christian, should live like Christ. He or she should live up to God’s standards of morality and ethical behavior and treats others fairly. It is hard for me to understand the person, who says they are a Christian, but their life style is anything but how Christ lived. When someone does not live up to God’s standard, their declaration is hollow. they say they belivee the Bible, but they don’t want to do what it says. They don’t want Jesus Christ interfering with their life.

My nephew in Michigan goes to an Evangelical Covenant Church. In his church, “doing justice” means not just helping people who are hurting, but addressing the causes of suffering. From a biblically-rooted perspective, they work to bring the love of Christ and the justice of God’s kingdom to the marginalized, the powerless and the oppressed. They act as advocates for victims of abuse, support micro-enterprise programs, battle human trafficking and work on racial reconciliation.

“Do justice, (or act justly)” says Micah. Not simply “support justice.” It ‘s a high-commitment, hands-on, everyday actvity.”

The second Recommended requirement is: LOVE KINDNESS.

The English word “kindness” is actually a weak translation of the Hebrew word hesed. which means love or love mercy, loyalty (actually covenant loyalty, and steadfast love, and faithfulness.” It lies at the heart of healthy relationships,, whether the bonds are marriages, close friendships or the relationship between God and his people. To “love kindness” (or show mercy) is to keep this loyalty and faithfulness at the heart of all your relationships. It means that you do not say hurtful things to people.

It means you think before you speak in an unkindly way, and ask yourself; “will what I think is so important to say to them, hurt them unnecessarily.” Would I want someone talking to me like that? Remember the words of Jesus, that we are to treat others, like we would like to be treated. Now, I don’t meant that we shouldn’t point out immoral behavior, or even when we see someone doing something to hurt others. but the Biblical way is to go to them and tell them in a kind and loving way, not an accusatory way in public. too often we think we have to make a spectacle of the wrong we allegedly see. Sometimes there are facts that we don’t know. If a person refuses to accept what we say, and it is truly a sin, biblically we should take an (elder of the church) with us to talk with them, then if they refuse to listen it is to be brought to the church. Rarely do we follow this procedure. If we don’t immediately confront them in public to humiliate them, we would just rather gossip about them behind their back. We rarely show HESED. (That is, mercy and loving kindness)

Another aspect of this kind of mercy and loving kindness or hesed, is a mom who spends day after thankless day spoon-feeding and wiping up after a disabled child. Hesed is a loving wife whose long-suffering, tearful prayers help her exhausted or discouraged husband from falling apart at the seams. Hesed is love that can be counted, decade after decade.”

THE THIRD RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENT IS:

” WALK HUMBLY WITH YOUR GOD.”

If we are going to excel as Christians, we must travel with God over the course of life. Faith may begin with a momentary decision, but it matures through a ling journey of following God over many ups and downs, through mountaintop experiences and valleys of deep darkness. Along this path, we are challenged to walk humbly knowing that God is—and must remain–ahead of us, in charge, leading the way. As a N.T Christian who has the advantage of the power of the Holy Spirit, these ups and downs should be like bumps in the road. They should not drag you down to the depths of despair. We don’t have to wallow in discouragement, because no matter what the enemy of our souls throws at us, the “joy of the Lord is our strength.” Christ in us means Holy Spirit power. It means walking in victory, and not living , and wallowing in sin, not because we are so great, but because he is! When we live in that kind of submission to the control of the Holy Spirit, we can walk humbly with God. Because we realize how weak we are and how strong he is.

When Jesus describes himself as “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14″6) he is echoing this image of a journey. Jesus is our way, showing us exactly how we are to walk with God. When he first called his disciples, he didn’t say, “Agree to these fine points of theology”. Instead, he said “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19).

“Walk humbly with your God,” says Micah. Walk with the Lord Jesus, his Son, the one who is the way, in the life of faith, unlike the world of computers, we should never be satisfied with the bare minimum. “To have the strongest possible relationship with God and with each other, it is important to reach for the recommended system requirements. Doing justice, loving hesed (mercy and kindness) and journeying humbly with the Lord. As Christians this is the way to excel. Examine your efforts to please God. Examine the areas of your life that not only affect your relationship with the Lord but with others. Are you fair in your dealings with people? Do you show mercy to those who wrong you? Are you learning and walking in humility;

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date January 26, 2025
Text: James 1:9-18
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

The title of my message this morning is: “The Blame Game. ”This is something that is in human nature. We seemingly have to always find someone to blame when things go wrong. Because of certain circumstances in life, some people don’t blame others, but they continually blame themselves. Both of these positions are wrong. When Eve sinned by disobeying God and she ate of the tree that God had forbidden them to eat of, she gave the fruit to Adam. When God questioned Adam about why he was ashamed, He asked Adam if he had eaten from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam blamed his wife. The woman YOU gave me, gave the fruit to me. Then Eve says, the serpent deceived me. Now the scripture says that she took some fruit and ate it, and then gave some to her husband who was WITH HER. Adam stood by and allowed his wife to sin and then joined her. Each of them found someone to blame, and we have been blaming each other or Satan ever since.

A dog food company’s newest product was not selling well. The president called in his management staff. “How’s our advertising?” he asked. “Great,” replied the advertising executive. This Ad campaign will probably win the industry’s top award this year.” All right, the president continued, How about our product design?” The production manage spoke up, “It’s great, our new label and packaging scored high in every marketing test we ran.” Hmmm.–Well, how’s our sales staff? Are they doing their job?? The sales manager was quick to respond. Oh sure. Our people are the best in the business. There was a heavy silence as the president thought about what he’d just heard. “We’ve got great advertising, great packaging, a top-notch sales force, yet this product is coming in dead last in the dog food market. Does anyone have any idea what the problem might be?

Everyone looked at each other—Finally, one brave soul spoke up. “It’s those stupid dogs, sir, They just won’t touch the stuff.”

Now that’s getting pretty bad when we blame the dogs for a faulty product.

There are some people that have turned their back on God because they blame him for tragedy in their life. Sometimes it isn’t a particularly awful thing in their life, but it was a time of trial. In the first few verses of this chapter, we see that; Trials of many kinds produce perseverance. They should help us to become more mature and complete in our faith. If it doesn’t produce more faith, it is because we are not believing in God like we should, and we are doubting when things get tough. We become like a boat that is bobbing around on the waves, first one way and then the other, and this makes us unstable in all of our ways. It makes us double-minded, we could say double-souled, which shows the depth of our doubt. It goes deep down to the depths of our very being and character.

We read in verse 12 that; The man who perseveres under trial is blessed. We are counseled in verse 13 that: “WHEN WE ARE TEMPTED—NO ONE SHOULD SAY, ‘GOD IS TEMPTING ME’. FOR GOD CANNOT BE TEMPTED BY EVIL, NOR DOES HE TEMPT ANYONE.”

It is hard to accept that trials are good for us and that God would be teaching us something through them. We are told that we are to consider it pure joy to go through trials. This sounds ridiculous when you are going through hardship or trials, but James insists that when we persevere we are blessed. When we have stood the test we will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

So many times, we see the evil side of the trials. There is a good side (just as he promises—Paul says in Romans 8:28 that; “all things work together for good (or for the good of) those who love God and are called according to his purpose.” It becomes an agency in the education of our spiritual character and the strengthening of all the better elements of our nature.

So once again —the same Greek word is used, but the other meaning for it. First, it is “trials” that we go through, now it is temptations. “When tempted no one should say God is tempting me” While temptation is not directly from God, yet it is overruled by God, and made one of His instrumentalities of blessing to us, “God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.” Yet, God PERMITS us to be tempted. As I reminded you, at the beginning of the message; God put Adam and Eve in a position where they were tempted and He made it possible for them either to choose or refuse; He gave them a nature subject to temptation, and while it might overcome them, it might also be overcome. God does not tempt any person, yet He does allow this to be “one of the classes in the school of faith and holiness”. He even led Jesus Christ, His own son, into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. So we shouldn’t think that it is strange if we are called to pass through the ordeal of this conflict—evil from within and from without, not merely things that grieve, afflict, and distress us, (like the trials mentioned in the first few verses,) but also the things that tend to make us do wrong and draw us from the path of righteousness, truth and godliness.

In I Corinthians 10:13 Paul tells us that: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” Now the key here is that we recognize “the way out.” God may be trying to help us to withstand some temptation, but instead of recognizing the escape route—the exit sign, we just go right ahead fulfilling our lustful nature, or following our own will, instead of God’s will.

So the temptations will come! God wants you to be forewarned and forearmed, and to know it is better that they should come to you, if you take the covering of God and come through in victory. Once again; “we shouldn’t blame God when we are tempted—We shouldn’t even blame Satan and say “the Devil made me do it!). We also shouldn’t blame God when we go through trials.

WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF TEMPTATION?

We should never forget where the source of temptation came from. “Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.” (verse 14). Temptation comes from your own heart. There are innumerable tempters: men, women, and fallen spirits of wickedness. But none have any power unless we have within ourselves—a traitor in the inner recesses of our hearts. The enemy cannot get in unless you let him in.

The phrase “dragged away and enticed”(NIV) or “lured and enticed” (RSV) has the idea of being caught in a trap and carried away by our captor, and the word “enticed” in Greek means “to bait a hook.” Both the hunter and the fisherman use bate to capture their unwary prey. No animal would deliberately step into a trap or snap at a hook if it understood the nature of traps and hooks. Traps promise one thing but give another. James is telling us that the bait that attracts us conceals deadly poison. If only we believed God’s warnings!

When we lived in Michigan, somehow we got a mouse in our house. It showed up once in our family room and once in the laundry room. So we set two mouse traps. We had heard that peanut butter worked good to catch mice, so we put some peanut butter on the trap in the family room, and we put the traditional cheese bate on the trap in the laundry room. Well the mouse somehow was able to lick the peanut butter off the trap in the family room, but the cheese that we had pushed down hard on the trap in the laundry room –got him.

But just as we use a mouse trap to catch mice; Satan does that to us too.

Sometimes we are tempted by the peanut butter so to speak, and we can nibble in the temptation, and we think, that’s not so bad. But another day Satan sets a trap with a “cheese” temptation, and we are caught, snared, hooked, and it can lead to death.

So once again, he can only do this if we let him. Now the only exception to this is when it comes to “generational spirits.” It’s only Westerners who deny that this is possible. Others in the world know that sometimes because of the sins of the parents, who allow curses to be put on their children before they are born or are still in the womb, their children are unknowingly subject to this kind of demonic bondage. Sometimes the parents are unaware that this has happened. When the child grows up there is a foothold of evil that cannot be shaken, even when they have received Christ as Savior.

The root of the bondage or generational curses, deliberately or ignorantly invoked because of parental involvement with the occult. Deuteronomy 18:10-13 tells us: “ Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist, or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God.”

For us today we may have another list, a list of things that may separate us from God. These may be things involving the Occult.

Included in this list, but not limited to it is, playing with the Ouija Board, Numerology or Horoscope readings, automatic writing, astral projection, levitation, Séances (which includes what we read— consulting the dead through mediums, divination, even water witching, (which many of our ancestors used to find water to dig for wells), astrology, or any of the Eastern Religions, parental bondage to drugs, in short, any form of bondage to evil spirits or serious abnegation of responsibility can expose their children to evil spirits.

Even though someone in your family was involved in some or even one of these, it doesn’t automatically mean that you will be affected. I don’t understand how this works, or why some live in bondage because of something in their past, while others achieve victory in their lives by accepting Christ. I just know that sometimes, professing Christians can’t seem to make any spiritual progress and they wonder why. After counseling and finding out about their own past, or their parents or grandparents, or aunts or uncles, it is discovered that either a deliberate curse was put upon them, or at the very least their relatives or ancestors were involved with some form of evil practice that Satan used to get a foothold in their lives.

The good news is that one doesn’t have to stay in this kind of condition. Deliverance is available.

It is so sad to see well-intentioned people (including some pastors), keep prodding someone to pray more, read the Word more, be more disciplined, etc., when they have some besetting problem that binds them. All the while what they need is deliverance from some form of demonization. It is obvious though that originally someone fell to temptation by the evil one. Perhaps as we read in verse 15 of our text; “after desire has conceived (there had to be a desire to see something happen, to experience something, to have help through demons, even though most of the time in our culture we don’t even think about their involvement.)—So next it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

The counsel is given in verse 16: DON’T BE DECEIVED!

That is, don’t be deceived into thinking that somehow God is the author of our temptation. So in spite of the facts I have mentioned about how the force of evil can come onto someone because of past generations of evil, it boils down to the fact that we hold the key to the fortress, so to speak. It is in our own heart that the battle is fought.

Two young boys sat down for lunch at school. One opened his lunchbox and began to gripe.“Baloney again?” This is the fourth day in a row! I’m sick and tired of baloney!”

His friend said, “I’ll bet if you just tell your mom you don’t like baloney, she’ll fix you something else.” —“Mom!?”—replied the first kid. “I fix my own lunches”

Talk about not taking responsibility for our own actions.

We can deny any responsibility for sinful actions too. We can say, when we can’t get the victory, —“The devil made me do it.” Or “ I just can’t help myself!” But this is just a cop-out, when all the while your will is to continue in the bondage, (even if you didn’t have anything to do with the origin.) Sometimes when we do know of a problem, like abuse by someone when we were young, we might hang on to this as an excuse for our lack of self-confidence or our behavior today when we are an adult.

I have seen deliverance sessions, where the demons speak and say, “he or she doesn’t want me to leave—I am (his or her) security” And finally the person has to be willing to be delivered, and receive the comforting power of the Holy Spirit instead of demons.

Now the more common problem is that in our own hearts, we just like sin. It is our own lust, our own desire or coveting, which is the literal translation, the thing in you that wants to do the wrong, your wish for it, even if it is not yet your will. This is the starting place of temptation. It is that blossom of sin. And this is where God Wants to bring His sanctifying grace and take away the very desire. You see this is what God is longing to take away from us—the desire for you to do what you know is wrong—whatever it is that is against His will.

The Lord Jesus passed through the powers of darkness and the allurements of the world and all the evil that was around Him and was proof against it. He could say “The Prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me.”(John 14:30). It is in the heart that temptation has its starting point. Ask God to give you a true and holy desire to please Him, and an instinctive repugnance and recoil from evil and sin, and so long as you have this, you shall not fall into temptation. Don’t go where sin abounds. Don’t go where you can be tempted. Alcoholics have trouble being around alcohol. It is possible that they can be tempted by it. However, I have heard the testimonies of (former) alcoholics, (that’s what I would say, even though AA teaches that you are always an alcoholic) but they may have been sober for many years. I could be around alcohol anywhere including a bar, and never be tempted, because I can’t stand the taste or even the smell of it. That be as it may, addictions are powerful.

The point is we shouldn’t be around people or things that tempt us. Don’t hang out with those who will drag you down, until you are delivered from the desire to participate in the sin of unbelievers. Once you are in victory, then be with them in order to win them. Too often we never make it back, but our unsaved contacts drop off and we don’t know how to reestablish contact.

You see, the Lord wants to give you the gift of salvation and eternal life if you haven’t yet received it. He wants to give you the power and authority of His Holy Spirit so that you can walk in victory and not fall to temptation.

And then to be able to testify, and witness to others about what the Lord has done for you. He wants to help you walk in victory over past sinful habits, and not fall to temptation. When Christ comes into your life you want to tell others what has happened. Don’t keep it a secret. Don’t stay silent about it. Other Christians will rejoice with you, and people who don’t yet know the Lord, will be intrigued, as long as you don’t preach at them, but just share your testimony. They will have nothing to argue with you about.

Verse 17 says; “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadow.”

This is a lot different than sending temptation. God is the giver of every good and perfect gift. The concept of goodness rules out the possibility that God would send an influence as destructive as temptation. God’s gifts are marked by kindness and helpfulness, not destructiveness. They are “perfect” which in this context excludes any possibility of moral evil, such as tempting his people to commit sin. The point of James’ statement is that nothing but good comes from God.

What does it mean; “The Father of the heavenly lights?” Some translations do not have the word heavenly, but it certainly is implied when it says; “from above.” The amplified version says; “It comes down from the Father of all (that gives) light, in (the shining of)…light.

The context seems to indicate that the lights referred to are the sun and moon, or the One who created them—and who has sovereignty over them. Unlike the “shifting shadows” we see in the difference between the sun at noon, and the shadows or seasonal changes we see as the position of the sun changes or even the moon. God does not change. With him there is no variation at all.

He is always the giver of good gifts, never a sadistic being who would entice his creatures to destroy themselves in sin.

However he does allow temptations to come. The battle does you good. The conflict educates us, strengthens us, establishes us, and –It is necessary for us that we may be grounded and settled and finally approved and rewarded. One of the best results of temptation is that it shows us what is in our own hearts. It reveals ourselves. Until temptation comes, we feel strong and self-confident; but: When the keen edge of the adversary’s weapon has pierced our soul, we have more sympathy with others and less confidence in our own self-sufficiency.

We are humiliated and broken at His feet and helpless: and this is the best thing that can happen to us. God wants to disarm us and lay us low, and then He can lift and save us and give us eternal life. The word of truth is the gospel; and by the sending of this “good news,” it is God’s purpose that we should be reborn, into a new life. When the gospel of Jesus Christ enters into our life; that is, when He comes in, He produces NEW LIFE—“we are new creations, the old has gone and the new has come.” The shadows are ended, and the certain Word of TRUTH has come; The truth that never changes, just like God.

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date January 19, 2025
Text: Romans 4:13-25
Pastor Paul Lehmann

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.There were many times when I was a child that my dad would make certain promises to me, and he always tried to keep them. Sometimes something beyond his control would make it impossible for him to keep his promise to me. I just couldn’t understand and I would be shattered. Fortunately he would always make it up to me and I would forget about the broken promise. As I became older I understood more about the promises. It depended on my behavior for one, but also, circumstances would make it impossible for him to do exactly what he had promised. His favorite answer to me was; “We’ll see! Now any kid knows that that is not a good response. I remember my senior year in high school, I had a date for our Jr-Sr. banquet. I went to a small town public school in a county which had a lot of Mennonites, and other conservative Christians. Therefore we didn’t have a “prom” like most schools. Those who wanted to dance, rented a dance hall and band etc. somewhere in another city. The Christians went to a Christian camp grounds where we played board games, or watched a Christian film until midnight or later. Anyway this was an important date for me, with the sister of my best friend from church, I needed the car, and my dad was in business for himself, and had an egg and produce route in nearby Akron, Ohio, and he told me he would be home by 6:00pm. When it was 6:30 and he wasn’t home yet, I began to panic, because I had to pick up my date 15 min. away, and drive back to the school, all before 7:30pm. He finally came about 10 min before 7:00, apologizing profusely, I was able to get to the banquet at just a couple of minutes before 7:30pm. Everyone was seated already, but they got to see me and my beautiful date walk in. It wasn’t until I was 22 years old and I ran a bread route, the year before Jeannene and I got married, that I realized how hard it was to finish your route when you thought you could. There was always something that kept you from getting home when you thought you could. I came to realize that Daddy didn’t ever deliberately lie to me but, sometimes his promises could not be kept.

Promises on the human level are sometimes broken. The Bible is a book filled with the promises of God to His people. Someone has calculated that there are at least 30 thousand promises in the Word of God. While this figure may appear to be extravagant it must be recognized that there are thousands of promises made to us which we have failed to recognize and to claim. The most wonderful thing about God’s promises is that they are never broken, but they too, are conditional, however once we have done our part—the promise is ours never to be broken.

Chapter 4 of the book of Romans tells us that the secret of Abraham’s spiritual achievement is to be found in his recognizing and clinging to the promises of God. He did not stagger back because of the mystery or miracle of the divine plan for his life. He was fully convinced that God was both able and willing to accomplish all that he had promised. May God grant us the insight to discover His promises and the faith to claim them.

Charles Spurgeon, the famous preacher of the last century wrote a book which is still in print, entitled “Faith’s Checkbook.” This book is a series of daily devotionals for us to use throughout the year. Each devotional is based on one of the exceeding great and precious promises of God. Concerning the promises of God, Spurgeon has said; “A promise from God may very instructively be compared to a check payable to order. It is given to the believer with the view of bestowing upon him some good thing. It is not meant that he should read it ever comfortably, and then have done with it. No, he is to treat the promise as a reality, as a man treats a check”

So you see, a check is no good until it is cashed. How many of the promises of God have you discovered and claimed—cashed so to speak”?

We want to look at Three categories of promises, to understand all that God has for us in his Word.

1.FIRST THERE ARE PROMISES FOR THE PRESENT.

Many of the promises which God made in times past are for those who live in the present. In verses 23-24 Paul says that when God declared Abraham righteous, (because of his faith), it wasn’t just for his benefit, but for us too, “if we believe in our heart that God brought Jesus Christ our Lord, back from the dead. He was handed over to die for our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God.” If we just recognize God’s promises and claim them by faith, God will do what He says He will do.

There are very few promises God made to his people in the past which have no relevant application for the present. God doesn’t change with the passing of time. What he was yesterday, He is today, and will be tomorrow and forever. What he did for his people yesterday he will do for us today. When we study the Word of God we should place ourselves in the middle of the action and identify with Biblical characters when such is appropriate. When God promises to forgive and cleanse from sin in the past, we can be safe in assuming that we can claim his promise of doing that in the present upon the condition that we sincerely repent. As God promised to guide in the past, so he promises to guide us in the present. If we are not sensitive to listen and willing to respond, and meet his conditions, either by something we must do or else simply applying faith, then and only then, does He not fulfill his promise.

An illustration of this kind of faith, would be if I asked one of you how much cash do you have, and you would say $5.00. Then If I gave you as a gift $5.00 and someone asked you how much do you have you could say, “I have $10.00. But then I ask for $5.00 back, and you were asked how much do you have, you would probably say $5.00. What you should say, If you believed me, —-that I said I was giving you a gift of $5.00 is; I have $10.00, but $5.00 is in his pocket (pointing at me). [ That’s like the old offering joke that pastor Wayne has said, about the $30,000 we need to build a basketball court here in Nobleton. He said we have the $30,000 but it is still in your pockets.}

In verses 19-23 we see that Abraham’s faith never wavered. God had promised him a son, and the world would be blessed by him and his descendants. Even though he was about 100 and Sarah 90, he believed God. His faith got even stronger when he was asked to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. . He was ready to obey God, knowing that the promise would still be fulfilled, even if God would raise Isaac from the dead. When God makes a statement in His Word, no matter how hopeless circumstances seem to us, we must believe Him and claim his promises. Maybe God hasn’t fulfilled a promise to you yet, but God will not fail, if we put our faith and trust in Him and his Word.

Then we not only have promises for the present,

1. WE HAVE PROMISES FOR THE FUTURE.

The only thing certain about the future, as far as we are concerned, is the fact of change. Nothing will be exactly the same tomorrow. You know how it is when you go back to your home town after a number of years. (My home town of Dalton and New York city from the 60s to the 90s ). Change is all around us and the future will be filled with change in every era of our lives. The period from 1910-1960 there was perhaps greater changes in the world than any other 50 year period of history. ( Then the almost 50 years it took to change Roe vs. Wade and save babies lives in the future). My home state of Ohio didn’t waste any time in declaring that after the 6th week when a baby’s heart is detected abortions are illegal. Other states have also made rulings already. The changes that have taken place in this century are maybe not as visible as the first part of the 20th century. Like cars replacing horses which were the main means of transportation for thousands of years. But those of you who have smart phones, it has been said that the technology that put a man on the moon, was not as much as you have in your smart phone today. In a world that moves so fast and we have unlimited destructive power it is easy to understand why many should be fearful as they face the future. We live in such a complex society in which the consumer and the producer are frequently so far removed that it is difficult for many to have a sense of significance and belonging. On all sides there is a constant increase in anxiety and insecurity.

As children of God we can be assured that in a changing world we worship a God who does not change. (Mal. 3:16 we read; “I am the Lord, and I do not change….”) The promise to us of eternal life is real, even though the fulfillment of this promise is almost incomprehensible to us, but we have assurance of the reality of this because His Word says so and because the Holy Spirit bears witness to our spirit that we are His. (I John 5:10-11) and Romans 8:16). God saves us, fills us, and calls us to serve him, in ways that we can’t imagine. There are those in my home church that thought,- “what good thing could come out of Nazareth—uh Dalton–or Orrville”-surprised that I was a missionary. Wherever you are from, or whatever the circumstances when you were growing up—— We know that in God’s divine providence that he doesn’t make mistakes. Sometimes we

Then thirdly we need to recognize the category of:

3. PROMISES FOR GOD’S CHILDREN

God has revealed his desire to impart to us a blessing and to enrich our lives. The divine promises were not given to deceive or to encourage false expectations. The heart of the loving Heavenly Father moves toward his children constantly with purposes of grace. His every intention toward us is good. A study of the Bible and of Christian history will reveal that: Those who have endured trials and difficulties of life and who persisted and went forward to real achievement were those who had studied the word of God and discovered God’s promises. These promises were claimed, and men and women moved forward depending upon God to do as he had promised.

It is reported that the margin of the Bible used by D.L. Moody contained the letters T and P on almost every page. When he was asked about this he said that the passage contained a promise from God to his children The T indicated that he had tried the promise and the P indicated that he had proven the promise to be true in his own experience.

How many times would those letters appear in your Bible?

The writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 10:23-25 “Without wavering, let us hold tightly to the hope that we say we have, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds. And let us not neglect our meeting together as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially since the day of his coming back again is getting closer. “

There was a woman in the south of France, years ago, who was very poor. She hardly had enough food to feed her children, and their clothes was in rags. She was so discouraged but at that time she cried out to Lord for help. She prayed Lord what promise to you have for me. Something to encourage me. There was a little promise box of cards that set on the top of the ice box. As she reached for it, blinded by her tears, she knocked it over. The promises showered down around her, on her lap, on the floor, not one was left in the box. She knew a moment of supreme joy in the Lord as the Holy Spirit flooded her soul with divine power and light, she realized that all of the promises were indeed for her in the very hour of her greatest need.

So it can be for you today. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. (Matt. 4:4). Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Once you experience the love of Jesus poured into your heart, you will know that nothing can separate you form his love. Paul tells us in I Cor. 15:58 to be strong and courageous (steadfast) and faithful, let nothing move you from doing the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor is not in vain.

We must accept that the promises of God are personal to us and we must claim them by faith. We must put our confidence in the faithfulness of God We must put the endorsement of our faith upon the divine promise and present it at the throne of grace just as we would present a check to the cashier of a bank.

The promises of God ae conditional, but once we have fulfilled the condition of placing our faith in Him, we will see he is not a liar, we can count on him.

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date January 12, 2025
TEXT: I Corinthians 16: 1-11
Pastor Paul Lehmann

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The poet Louise Fletcher Tarkington spoke for most of us when she said: “I wish that there was some wonderful place called “The Land of Beginning Again,” where all our mistakes and all of our heartaches and all of our poor, selfish greed could be dropped like a shabby coat at the door, and never put it on again.”

Our desire as children of God should be to do better in the future than we have in the past. Jesus The new year presents us with the opportunity to find a “Land of Beginning Again.” We will be using a new calendar, and we will be facing new challenges and new responsibilities, but we are deceiving ourselves if we believe that the new year will be completely different from the old year unless God intervenes. For we will be confronted with many of the struggles, problems, and heartaches we knew during the past year. We soon fail to keep our New Year’s resolutions.

When we talk about “doors of opportunity,” we must realize that the opening of doors is all God’s responsibility. We just need to be ready to walk through them when he does it. In Acts 19:1 we read that Apollos who had been working with Paul, had gone to Corinth. A little further from where Carol read this morning, –in verse 12 we see that Paul was urging Apollos, to go to Corinth, but he was unwillingly but Paul tells them he will go when he has the opportunity. Some have felt that Apollos was strong-willed and that he wasn’t going to go to Corinth, just because Paul told him to go. I believe though, that there might be another reason. Apollos was willing to obey God whenever, and wherever he would tell him to go. For some reason, it wasn’t in God’s timing for him to go then, but when the door was open he went.

The important thing to realize is; that God’s timing is not ours—and when he finally opens the door we must be ready to walk through it by being prepared, and then obey.

Jeannene and I have seen this to be true many times in our lives, but there were two significant times when God’s timing and ours didn’t seem to coincide. Yet in the long run, his timing was perfect of course. Our first ministry in Boma, Dem. Rep of the Congo, I was the principal of a high school and taught Phys. Ed., built an outdoor basketball court and started a basketball team. We had a Bible Study in our home for these players. At the end of our first four-year term, 34 young people had given their lives to Christ. But we were feeling led to go to the Capitol City for our next term and help with the newly started church planting efforts. However God had other plans, and when we came back after a year of speaking in churches in the States, we were assigned once again to Boma. I couldn’t understand how the Lord and I “got our wires crossed” so much. Nevertheless, it was all in the Lord’s timing. I led Theological Education by Extension Classes and was involved with a tent meeting outreach, which resulted in having discipleship classes for 76 converts who lived in our section of the city, and through this a church was planted. Everything that I was involved with, was what I would be doing in Kinshasa. After one year we were able to transfer to the capitol.

While we may have a deep inward desire to “begin again” realistically we should recognize that our present position is really our door of opportunity for significant achievement and worthwhile service. Paul recognized in verse 9 of our text that; “a great door for effective service” was open to him in Ephesus. Instead of running away from difficulty, he said, “But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost”…then he adds, “and there are many adversaries.” ‘’

In spite of difficulties, disappointments, and outright opposition, the apostle Paul determined that he would seize this opportunity for significant service and do whatever was necessary to be done at the moment. The Greek word for open here means—wide open—not just a little, or a crack, but the door was wide open.

This pagan city of Ephesus resisted his preaching in the past—but now, they were receptive to the gospel, and the three years that Paul stayed and preached there were very fruitful, and the church he planted became one of the greatest churches in church history. In the book of Revelation chapter 2 where Ephesus is the first church that Jesus is talking to John about, we read that they have worked hard, and persevered, and they don’t tolerate wicked people. They endured hardships for the name of Jesus, and they didn’t grow weary. But then he says in verses 4 and 5: “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your ‘lampstand’ from its place” That is—their position of prominence. This isn’t a position that is recognized by other people and other churches but rather a position that God gave them. That’s what makes this so necessary that they repent and restore their first love for the Lord. Probably also for each other, because when our love for the Lord fails, we begin to say things against each other. In the KJV, the old English word is “backbite.” That’s what dogs do when they fight. What a terrible state to be in.

Now the danger for us today is to be commended like the church at Ephesus, and then begin to fall and lose the love that we once had for the Lord. This leads to not responding to the opportunities that he gives us. Sometimes that means that we sort of, “rest on our laurels” from the past, or we may think about what opportunities “might” open up in the future. But we need to recognize that the past has gone for good, and the future dreams will not become a reality unless we take advantage of the opportunities that God gives us TODAY.

Today is our day of opportunity for effective service. In John 9:4 Jesus explains; “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. The night is coming when no one can work.” Then in II Corinthians 6;2 we read; “…In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, in this present time. Not sometime in the future. It is absolutely necessary to recognize the importance of the present, in contrast to the past or the future.”

It is foolish to rely on what we might have done in the past or to weep over lost opportunities. It is also just as foolish to just wait for the future to happen. The only thing we can be certain of is the present. Does this mean that we don’t think about or plan for the future? No—not at all—we should plan and set goals and consider what we should do TODAY, in order to accomplish what God has laid on our heart to do.

In Proverbs 10:9 we are told; “in their hearts, humans plan their course but the Lord establishes their steps.” Back in verse 3, we read; that we should submit or commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Some translations say, “He will bless them.”

The last part of verse 9 of our text shows us though that Paul was confronted with many adversaries. There are many, who oppose him,

He was opposed by the Jewish leaders who violently disagreed with his ideas about the kingdom of God. Paul believed that the Kingdom of God was wide enough and large enough to include the Gentiles. He believed that the love of God was all-inclusive and that God was just as concerned about redeeming the Gentiles as he was the sons of Abraham. In preaching salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, he was confronted with violent opposition that led to his imprisonment and eventually to his death. In spite of his external opposition from religious leaders, Paul continued his faithful service.

Paul experienced hostile opposition from the pagans whose financial security was threatened by the conversion of those who contributed to their business in Ephesus. Those who profited because of the temple of Diana were agitated to the extent that they rioted (Acts 19:23-29).

Jesus was confronted with many adversaries. On one occasion even Christ’s family sought to dissuade him from the direction in which his life was pointing. At the beginning of his ministry, he was violently opposed by the Devil, who sought to tempt him to deny his redemptive purpose. There were times during Jesus’ ministry when even the disciples opposed him. When Jesus predicted his death in Matthew 16:21-22, we see that; “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” He just didn’t understand the redemptive purpose, that Jesus was born to die for mankind. Of course, it was all in God’s timing.

Once when he returned to his hometown of Nazareth, he attended the synagogue and he was asked to read the Scriptures. He read from Isaiah 61:1-2 and verses 18-21. The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he ended by saying: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. The people were so enraged by his message that they tried to throw him over a cliff (Luke 4:28-29). We read though that; “He walked right through the crowd and went on his way.” Almost from the beginning of his ministry, he experienced hostility and opposition on the part of the religious establishment who saw him as a threat to the laws and traditions as they interpreted them. They also added things to the law and they demanded that the people follow these, but they themselves didn’t. (Sounds like our politicians, doesn’t it?) Anyway, this conflict eventually led to his death.

We may worry about external opposition, but perhaps our greatest danger will be the internal hindrances that keep us from doing God’s will for our lives. This is true of our individual spiritual lives, but also collectively for our church, this body of Christ. These inward adversaries can be conquered only as we enter the doorways of opportunity for WORSHIP, STUDY, AND PRAYER in which we let God work within us so that his will might be accomplished through us.

Each of us has a built-in tendency because of sin, to avoid obligations, burdens, or difficulties. It is natural, unfortunately, to be selfish and self-centered. Unless we are alert and determined to do otherwise and give ourselves over to the filling and the control of the Holy Spirit, we will continue to live carnal lives, and we will find ourselves drifting through this coming year, adding days to our lives instead of filling those days with significance and meaning.

We must seize our opportunities for service. In the Old Testament in the account of creation, Eve didn’t seize the opportunity to obey and serve the Creator God, and Adam didn’t support her against the enemy Satan, who continues to deceive us like he did them. Cain their son then, killed his brother Abel, because he didn’t seize the opportunity to obey and worship the Lord with all of his heart. When we hate our brothers and sisters in Christ, or when we hate anyone, it is the same as if we have killed them, or at the very least, wanted to kill them. In Matt. 5: 21-22 we read that; “we are told -do not murder because that person is subject to judgment, but Jesus said that the person who is angry with a brother or sister is also subject to judgment. In I John 2:9 we read; “You claim to live in the light, but you are living in darkness. “Walk by faith and not live in darkness.” I John 3:15 tells us; “Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. “

The door of faith is open. Paul rejoiced that God opened the door of faith to the Gentiles (Acts 14:27). He was delighted that Gentiles could trust God and walk by faith and enjoy his favor.

Each of us is given the privilege of walking by faith (Prove. 3:5-6) to walk by faith is to enjoy the presence of God as Enoch and Abraham and all the others listed in that great faith chapter 11 of Hebrews.

When we trust in Christ alone the door to divine sonship is open to all who will receive Jesus Christ as their Savior from sin. (John 1:12) “To as many as received Him, and believed in His name, He gave the (power) or the right to be called the sons of God. Most of you here this morning have already seized the opportunity to enter this door (the door of salvation). We can rejoice that the door is still open for others to enter. Some have declined to enter this door and consequently remain in the darkness of spiritual destitution outside of the family of God. Don’t be that person. If you have not received Jesus Christ by inviting Him into your life, you can do so this morning.

The door to Christian witnessing is open. Paul speaks of a door being open to preach the gospel in the city of Troas. The door will be open for us to announce the good news of God’s love in our community during the coming year. We, like the apostle Paul, should be praying that God would open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ. (Col. 4:3) and he adds “for which I am in chains.” In verses 4-5 he says; “Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.”

Jesus said, “I am the door; if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9). Jesus is the door to forgiveness, He is the door to new life, eternal life the very life of God. He is the door to new spiritual power and energy. He is the door to hope for the future as we seek to live lives of significant achievement and service. He is the door to the eternal home of God at the end of our life.

On this first Sunday of the New Year, let each of us determine that we will be alert to seize every opportunity for worship and service to our God and to those about us. By so doing we will discover that we have already found the “land of beginning again.”

The enemy will try his best to keep you from stepping through the gigantic doors of opportunity God desires to open for you. Satan is afraid of what will happen when “his” territory is invaded by someone fully equipped with a full arsenal of spiritual weapons! So know this; God will open doors for you, but He needs you to make a determined decision that you will walk through them, no matter the opposition, with the help of His Holy Spirit. By opening the door, God has already done His part, which would have been impossible without his assistance. Now He beckons you to come dressed in the whole armor of God and in the power of His Word—and then proceed through that effectual door into new territory this year. It may look like enemies are everywhere, but it is simply a fact that the devil and his forces flee and collapse when they are subjected to a show of strong faith!.

God doesn’t open a door for you to walk through so you can fail

He is with you every step of the way.

Your situation may look frightful but think about this: If God has supernaturally opened a new door for you door that’s never before been opened—-He is not beckoning you to walk through it so you can fail. He is with you every step of the way, and He will empower you to defeat every foe and bring Him glory in that new territory that is yours to possess in Jesus’ name!

At the last Passover Supper, Jesus knew very well how the disciples were going to feel after he was betrayed. He knew they would feel like all was lost, and that they were alone. The power that they were going to receive because of what he would accomplish on the cross, would be greater than anything they had ever experienced before. That’s why He told them in I Cor. 11:23-25 that every time they eat the bread and drink from the cup— to do it in remembrance of Him